Equities in Canada’s largest market rose in early trade on Tuesday, boosted by gains among energy and financial stocks as oil prices rose and investors eye a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.
The S&P/TSX Composite hiked 76.58 points to open Tuesday to 15,364.28
The Canadian dollar nosed up 0.02 cents to 76.23 cents U.S.
Husky Energy began restarting the 26,000-barrel-per-day isocracker Saturday at its Lima, Ohio, refinery after roughly two weeks of planned work.
Husky shares took on 13 cents to $17.03.
Magna International may build a new plant in Europe as its Austrian factory runs out of capacity, according to its head of its European business. Jaguar Land Rover's full-electric SUV i-Pace will also be constructed at Magna's Graz plant from next year.
Magna shares picked up 32 cents to $61.77.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Enerplus Corp to $16.00 from $11.00, to reflect a higher drilling density and modest improvements in natural gas realized pricing.
Enerplus shares gained 53 cents, or 4.2%, to $12.99.
TD Securities cut the target on Wajax Corp to hold from buy, saying that despite higher sector valuations, the stock's valuation no longer looks compelling.
Wajax shares faded 32 cents, or 1.3%, to $24.09.
North West Company is due for Q3 earnings today, projecting 42 cents per share. North West shares docked 16 cents to $25.94.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange started out positive 2.47 points to 756.18
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were stronger coming out of the gate, with energy higher 0.7%, financials and information technology soaring 0.5% each.
The lone laggard proved to be telecoms, ducking lower 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded higher on Tuesday as investors kept an eye on a key Federal Reserve meeting, while the Dow Jones industrial average closed in on another milestone.
The Dow Jones Industrials added to Monday’s all-time high, strengthening 107.56 points to 19,909.99, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains.
The Dow had gained 13.6% for the year, as of Monday's close, with a large part of those gains coming after Donald Trump stunned the world by winning the U.S. presidency.
Monday saw the 15th record close for the blue-chip index since the Nov. 8 vote.
The S&P 500 gained 14.42 points to 2,271.38,
The NASDAQ composite index recovered 57.79 points to 5,470.33
Investors also kept a close eye on the Fed as it began a two-day monetary policy meeting, with most market participants expecting the central bank to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. Experts put market expectations for a rate hike above 90%.
The meeting is expected to conclude Wednesday, with Fed Chair Janet Yellen scheduled to hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.
In economic news, the November read on the NFIB Small Business index came in at 98.4, above October's 94.9. Meanwhile, import prices fell 0.3% in November.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note strengthened a bit, lowering yields to 2.46% from Monday’s 2.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 10 cents to $52.73 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices docked $3.10 to $1,162.70 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
